Improvement in peat-moulding machines



dialnet (gitanas para anni.

Letters Patent No. 99,130, dated January 25, 1870..

IMPROVEMENT IN PHAT-MOULDNG- IMIACHINS.Y

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making partei the same I, AIME NICHOLAS NAPOLEON AUBIN, formerly of Albany, State of New York, temporarily residing in Montreal, Dominion of Canada, havel invented certain Improvements in Peat-Moulding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The nature of my invention consists in combining a water-trough, a tloating inclined plane, with antifriction rollers, a' rocking pendent lever, a mouldingbox, with a vertical diagonal side, a sliding catch-block, raised or lowered by a pedal-lever, and moving a push- Y bar, set in motion by aconveyer-rod bearing a fixed catch-block and a hinged crossaud operating in its forward and backward stroke, the whole for the purpose of bringing peat-moulds from return cars, wetting them, filling them with ground peat, and pushing them oli' to the'spreading-cars on different tracks, thus securing more regular and rapid work, and relieving men from the exhausting labor of constantly lifting heavy weights.

Figure 1 represents, in perspective, the whole arrangement of the di'erent parts.

Figure 2 shows the catch-blocks on a larger scale.

A is a trough, kept nearly lled with water. One end of it touches the empty mould-table; the other extends to all the tracks which may be found necessary for reaching every portion of the drying-grounds.

At` the extremity, nearer the empty mould-table, is an inclined plane, B, provided with wooden rollers, and hinged at one end, so that the other end, by oating, adapts itself to the height of the water.

G, empty mould-table.. It is provided with rollers at right angles with the inclined-plane rollers, in o1- der to facilitate the motion of the moulds toward the moulding-table. Over the empty mould-table is a rockshaft, I), with axles bearing upon the upright frames d* di. 'lo that shaft is fixed a couuterweighted level', G, with pull-rope gat right angles, and a pendent frame,

H, is also fixed to the shaft, at a right angle with the shaft itself and with the lever G.

I J is the moulding and conveying-table. It iscomposed of a frame, t, provided with rollers t2, over which the moulds travel. That table is prolonged at J as far as desired, and 'crosses above all the tracks leading to the drying-grounds, and is furnished, wherever it crosses a track, with an arrangement for throwing off the passing filled moulds, at the will of the men attending the cars. The moulding-table is partially covered by the mould-guides jl ji; and at j is seen the moulding-box, which consists merely in three vertical boards, one of which, as seen in the drawing, is placed diagonally. Inside ofthe moulding-box, the upper part 0f the mould-guides, which partially cover the moulds, is cut so as to uncover the whole breadth of the passing moulds.

L is the conveyer-rod, which begins at l, and is pro- Adiminish hand-labor.

longed to the en'd of the moulding-table. At l.1 it is bolted to a connecting-rod, which receives an alternate forward and backward motion, from the principal mover, by means of a crank, of a 'rack with geared pinion, of lan eccentric cam, or any of theother wellknown devices for that purpose.

P, crooked arm fixed to the conveyer-rod, passing .over one of the mould-guides, and carrying, at its upper end, the hinged cross Z3, which is so arranged asto rock over a mould in its backward motion, but to push it when it moves forward. At its free end, naturally held upward by the weight ofthe cross, it is provldel with an eye, to Which'a rope can be attached, so as to keep the cross raised by the attendant, in 'case it is desiredfor a time not to propel the moulds. The conveyer-rod .slides through brackets 1*, firmlybolted to the side of the moulding-table.

M, railroad-tracks for the spreading-cars passing' under the moulding-table.

N, swinging bar, hinged at one end to the tableframe, and at the other to the upright fork nl, which is raised at will by the motion of the pedal-lever ai.

l, catch-block iixedto the conveyer-rod.

n3, catch-block sliding upon the swinging bar N, hinged so as not to move otherwise than up and down. It has an eye at n4, to-which a rope, a5, is tied, which passes in the pulley n, and has its other'end fixed to the plush-bar nl.

nl, push-bar doubledl up, so as to have one branch sliding under the table in suitable guides, and the other over the rollers, so as to push the moulds sidewise from the mould-table rollers to the platform O.

n", return pulley.

a", counterpoise to bring back the push-bar.

0, platform, fixed or hinged to the moulding-table -over each track, for receiving the filled mould pushed aside by the push-bar.

ol o2 o3 oi o5, peatmoulds. 'lhese are constructed with movable bottoms and cross-projections, and their operation'is fully described in my patent of the 27th October, 1868. The diiercnt parts, just described, and disposed relatively, as indicated, are calculated to facilitate and Their operation 'will easily he understood. A car-load of empty moulds is brought on the track at M. The attendant throws them into the trough A, where a boy sinks them in the water, so as to wet them, and thus facilitate the parting of the peat, when they are overturned upon the ground. He then oats them to the-inclined plane B, where the man, who feeds the moulds to the machine, draws them to the empty mould-table,and, when mould o1 is back ofthe mould o2, he drawsv the rope g, which ,by means of the lever G and pendent frame H, throws the mould of on the moulding-table, when it is moved forward, by

the hinged cross Z3, during the Aforward stroke of the conveyer-rod L. The moulds thus conveyed, one

'pushing the other, pass under thc mould-box j, in

which the ground peat, from the machine, falls. The diagonal side of the box forces the peat to spread in the mould rapidly, and with less resistance than a straight scraper or a roller requires. 'lhe filled mould o5 is propelled by the following one, and comes in front of the platform o. If there be no car ready to load on that track, the mould travels further; but, if it is desired to load a car on the track M, the attendant places his foot upon the pedal-lever n2, the swinging bar N is raised, the sliding catch-block n3 is caught by the block l5, which is carried back during the last half of the backward stroke of the conveyer-rod L; vthe sliding block n3 pulls the rope a5, which, in its turn, pulls the push-bar n", which throws off from the moulding-table the filled mould o5 to the platform 0, from which, again, it is slid to the spreading-car by the men on each side of it.. Each of the filled moulds weighs nearly two hundred pounds, and each of my ordinary peatmachines can fill from ten to fifteen moulds per minute, rendering necessary the use of mechanical appliances to rapidly handlesuch large quanti.- ties of material.

When the conveyer-rod L begins its forward motion, and before a mould has been pushed forward, the counter-poise, ng, draws back the rope passing over the return-pulley n, and another not shown.- lhe push-bar and the sliding catch-block are brought'back, while the catch-block l5 recedes further, and releases the sliding block and pedal-lever, which allows the swinging bar to fall out of gear, until it is desired to throw off auother mould.

I do not claim the moulds as constructed, nor the trough for wetting and floating them to the feeder, as these devices are fully described in my patent of 27 th October, 1868.

What I claimras my invention, is-

The combination of the hinged inclined plane B, the rock-shaft D, lever G, conveyer-rod L, bearing the arm Z2, hinged cross l, and one or more ca'tchfblocks Z5; the throwing-oft` arrangement consisting in apedallever, sliding catch-block, rope or chain, push-bar, and counterweight, the whole constructed and operating substantially as hereinbef'ore set forth.

. N. AUBIN. Witnesses:

T. C. OoNNoLLY, T. C. WooDwARD. 

